"You know I do not agree on all the changes, but the agreement on 95
percent of the budget is more important to me than our differences," he said. "The era of irresponsible government in Flint is over."

The council unanimously adopted the budget last week, and likely would have overridden a mayoral veto.

The council axed funding for at least four of the mayor's appointed officials and restored funding to bring back weekly garbage collection for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Weekly trash collection will likely start in mid-July after scheduling and other issues are worked out, Walling said.

Walling said he does not plan on making any changes to his administrative staffing positions, even though the city council eliminated funding for the positions from his office and from the city administrator's office.

Walling said he will fund those positions out of other departments, based on the job descriptions. He said council does not have the power to fire his appointees.

The council also cut the fire chief's position, which is currently vacant, and included funding to house more offenders in jail — even if it means renting jail space outside the county.

Even though the council added about $500,000 to the administration's recommended budget for the police department, it's still about $3 million short of what the police budget was at the beginning of this fiscal year.

Breaking from tradition, the council adopted a line-item budget to designate funding for each specific item in each department's budget.

Historically, the council had adopted budgets on an overall departmental level.
Council members said they wanted more control over how the money is spent.

While the council made changes to individual line items, the overall general fund amount is the same as the mayor’s recommendation. General fund expenditures were set at $57.1 million, about $9 million less than was adopted this time last year.

For more on this developing story, visit www.mlive.com/flint this afternoon.